


Bleed it Out

by theskywasblue



Category: Naruto
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-01
Updated: 2010-09-01
Packaged: 2017-10-11 09:29:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/110897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theskywasblue/pseuds/theskywasblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pain has a scent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bleed it Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kansouame](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=kansouame).



Pain has a scent, sulphurous like the last coil of smoke from a burnt-out match head. Kakashi stood in the doorway to the bedroom, breathing it in, watching the outline of the curled lump beneath the blankets on the bed through the darkness. Iruka wasn't asleep, his breathing was nowhere near regular or deep enough, and every so often one of the muscles in the tight line of his back would twitch in a way that sleep would have made impossible.

Kakashi shucked his gear, his headband, his mask, going right down to his basic blacks and crossed the room on bare feet, making careful, deliberate noises – because you didn't sneak up on a ninja, particularly not a wounded ninja, unless you were willing to face the brunt of their deeply-ingrained self-defence mechanisms – and settled onto the bed on his side, facing Iruka; one arm tucked up under his head, the other resting carefully on the mattress between them.

He thought it was best to wait for permission before he got any closer; it was dangerous to take liberties with any ninja, unless you wanted to face the brunt of their deeply-ingrained defence mechanisms.

Pain was written all over Iruka's features. His brown eyes were wide and red-rimmed under the careless fall of his too-long bangs, and his face was two shades too pale for his dark skin-tone.

Kakashi knew that if there were words to fix this, he would have heard them somewhere after all the years he had spent dealing with loss. For lack of anything else, he kept his eyes locked with Iruka's, as if the weight of his gaze could tramp down at least some of Iruka's pain.

Finally, Iruka's lips moved, forming an almost soundless "hey."

"Hey," Kakashi echoed, and figuring it was about as much invitation as he was likely to get, he reached out and pushed the mess of Iruka's hair back from his face. Iruka shuddered at the touch, but didn't balk or protest.

Out of all the things Kakashi might have said, he knew that _it wasn't your fault_ would ring the most hollow. He could even run through in his mind all of Iruka's counter-arguments – the biggest one something like _I taught them, I graduated them, I sent them out there into the world knowing what could happen and **look what happened**_. Kakashi knew them all by heart, had recited them himself a few hundred times when things got really bad; and if reminding Iruka that he didn't control the universe, that sometimes bad things just _happened_ would have fixed anything at all, then Kakashi would have reminded him until he had no more breath left to speak.

Kakashi eased forward, closing the space between them, pressed his lips against Iruka's, not letting himself be dissuaded by Iruka's initial hesitation, just coaxing with careful pressure and little flicks of tongue until he responded; and then Kakashi tried to slip forgiveness and understanding into Iruka's mouth off the tip of his tongue.

"Do you...want to go for ramen?" He asked when they were only barely apart – noses still touching, breaths mingling in the sliver of space between their wet mouths – thinking a little pathetically that it was the only thing he could imagine that might make Iruka feel even remotely better.

Iruka shook his head against the pillow.

"Do you want to lie around in the dark for a while?" He tinted it with just enough humour that the tiny twitch at the corner of Iruka's mouth might have been the beginnings of a smile.

"If...that's okay."

"Whatever you want," Kakashi answered, touching his lips to Iruka's again, then letting Iruka curl against him, tucking his head under Kakashi's chin, breathing softly against his chest.

Pain has a scent, but so does love – delicate and sweet, salt and the softness of Iruka's shampoo.

-End-

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Bleed it Out](https://archiveofourown.org/works/898055) by [kansouame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kansouame/pseuds/kansouame)




End file.
